(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, with Zelenskyy in Washington to make his case for procuring American Tomahawk cruise missiles and other military assets.
Trump and Zelenskyy, wearing a dark suit, shook hands when the Ukrainian president arrived at the West Wing entrance. The two men are having a working lunch in the Cabinet Room.
“We want to see if we can get this done,” Trump said.
Zelenskyy said he thinks there is “momentum” to end the war. “We want peace. Putin doesn’t want. That’s why we need pressure on him,” he said.
“President Trump has a big chance now to finish this war,” Zelenskyy said, pointing to Trump’s brokering of a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. “That’s why I hope that he will do this, and we will also have such big success for Ukraine.”
Trump appeared bullish days ago about potentially selling the long-range weapons to Ukraine as he expressed disappointment in Moscow’s onslaught as the war drags on three-and-a-half years later.
But after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Trump seemed more cautious and began to express concern about depleting the U.S. supply.
“That’s a problem. We need tomahawks and we need a lot of other things that we’ve been sending over the past four years to Ukraine,” Trump said as he and Zelenskyy took questions from reporters on Friday.
Trump acknowledged it would be an “escalation” to sell the weapons to Kyiv, but said he and Zelenskyy would discuss it.
The president also he would share with Zelenskyy what he and Putin spoke about on Thursday. After their two-hour conversation, Trump said he and Putin are planning to meet again soon, this time in Hungary, to discuss the war.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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